The Stupidest Angel

'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit.

But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle" he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Only Christopher Moore,...

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

While this book is not Mr. Moore's best or wildest, it is buoyant enough to look like his big, overdue breakout. Chalk that up to the confluence of fruit bat, Warrior Babe, handcuffs and merrily warped holiday spirit. And his earlier work has reached critical mass, to the point at which Mr. Moore is clearly the unhinged Hiaasen. He's "Daily Show"-funny and willing to subvert anything, even the "pile of dead Kringle" that sets this fractured fairy tale in motion.